Teens Press Play on YouTube
February 25, 2014
Teens may not have plans to ditch Facebook any time soon, but recent polling found that they’re spending more time with YouTube than the social network.
In a November 2013 study by The Intelligence Group, nearly three-quarters of 14- to 18-year-olds in the US said they used YouTube “frequently,” compared with 60% who said the same for Facebook. Those ages 19 to 24 accessed YouTube more than Facebook, but there was just a 1-percentage-point difference between the two. The 25-to-34-year-old age group was significantly more likely to use Facebook than YouTube.
Data released in November 2013 by The Futures Company had similar findings, with YouTube overtaking Facebook last year as the favorite website among US internet users ages 12 to 19. While Facebook ranked No. 1 with 59% of respondents in 2012, it fell to second place in 2013, cited by 48%. YouTube took the top spot last year, with 50% of teen internet users citing it among their favorite websites; however, the video site had also lost share, falling from 55% of respondents in 2012.
Despite YouTube’s popularity, The Intelligence Group found that Facebook was the preferred social network among US teen and millennial internet users for communicating with brands, cited by the majority of respondents.
On the other hand, just one-fifth of 14- to 34-year-olds preferred YouTube for brand interaction.
Courtesy of eMarketer
